Fat as Butter Concert Runs Smoothly

Rain late on Saturday has been credited with helping to disperse crowds from Newcastle's CBD after a music festival on Saturday.

Around 15-thousand people converged on Foreshore Park, near Nobbys Beach, for the Fat as Butter concert.

There was a strong police and security presence at the event and police arrested more than 30 people for being intoxicated, while around 20 were caught with drugs.

Newcastle Council's manager of City Presentation Services, Lisa Scully says council rapid response crews were employed to ensure the clean up went smoothly.

"The event had their own cleaners on site, " she said.

"And it appears that they've done a really good job in maintaining that."

"Also, the police were actively involved on the street; took an awful lot of bottles and cans off of people that were entering the site."

"They rang us at about two o'clock to get some garbage bins emptied so we were much more pro-active."

But Newcastle community campaigner, Tony Brown says he's disappointed with the number of people drinking in the city's alcohol free zones before attending the music festival.

In addition to the permanent alcohol free areas, Newcastle Council set-up 24-hour zones at nearby beaches and parks in the city's east.

Mr Brown says too many people ignored the signs and the warnings of a 110-dollar fine.

"Unfortunately what we observed was that many of the Councils alcohol free zones, in areas such as the mall and the streets, in many cases were full of younger people loading up before hand in a clear breach of these zones," he said.